Letters to the editor July 1

Ban won't stop help for immigrants

| The New Mexican

7/1/2008 - 7/1/08

We are members of the Board of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and we are volunteers in the Los Amigos del Parque program at DeVargas Park. On Monday mornings, we bring food and greetings to the day laborers waiting at the park in the hope of work that day. This service is a wonderful way to start the week. The men are kind, appreciative and delighted when they get work.

Yes, we have been thrown out of the parking lot that has been our base of operations for several years from 7:45 to 9 a.m. six mornings a week. The reasons given us do not make sense. We doubt they are the truth.

We will move across the street and dodge the sprinklers, or we'll move to another spot. We will continue with our presence to make the statement that many Santa Feans want to give a hand to others and are not afraid of differences.

Elaine Sullivan

Eduardo Moreno

Santa Fe



Homegrown help

Regarding the June 27 article, "Los Amigos del Parque banned from state lot":

For seven years, my wife has been a volunteer in Los Amigos del Parque. Come rain, sun, sleet or snow, once a week she prepares food and adds beverages to nourish the immigrants assembled at De argas Park.

Many times I had the opportunity to provide her transportation. Never have I seen or heard of any incident that would justify the action taken by local Workforce Development Board director Jerry Gaussoin.

The city supports this activity, and come Christmas, the Mexican consul in Albuquerque and the Santa Fe police are special guests at the Christmas party created by Los Amigos. It would appear that Gaussoin takes his orientation more from the present policies in Washington than those of our hometown, Santa Fe.

Rainer Wollmann

Santa Fe

Adiós, amigos

How ironic that the day after the press reported on the seventh anniversary of Los Amigos del Parque, the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions with its new building management oversight organization, the Local Workforce Development Board, told Los Amigos they could no longer use any portion of its parking lot to meet with the immigrant day laborers. The next week this government-funded nonprofit organization even decided to exercise jurisdiction over city of Santa Fe sidewalks when the men were told they could not be on the city sidewalk next to the building housing the Department of Workforce Solutions. As the Fourth of July approaches and pictures of our Statue of Liberty prevail, I am reminded of how many of us have immigrant blood.

Carol L. Couch

Santa Fe

Mutant tomatoes

How is it that salmonella, an animal disease, is being contracted from tomatoes? In recent times, salmonella is usually transferred in the feces of animals that have been treated with antibiotics, spread through meat, milk and eggs. A fresh tomato which has been washed should carry none. I think there is a possibility that the tomatoes in question could be genetically modified ones. This may give these plants the capacity to carry animal diseases. These genetic modifications are spread through pollen, and are like unstoppable viruses. If we don't stop this, it could kill the human race.

Bill Lyne

Lamy

Protect pets

This is the time of year when I see poor animals in locked vehicles. Even with the windows down and the driver "only gone for a few minutes," at 90 degrees outside that vehicle heats rapidly to 110 degrees and rises from there. Would anyone want to sit in that furnace?

An animal can suffer brain damage in short order. I'm sure that the vast majority of people who put their animals through this hell love their pets as much as I love mine. As unintentional or inadvertent as their actions might be, it's cruel to do this. There's a city ordinance, "Confining an Animal in or upon a Motor Vehicle," against it. Animal Control will do whatever it takes to free the animal, and the owner faces a $100-plus fine. Anyone witnessing this situation should call 955-2700.

Dan Curry

Santa Fe